Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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FIGHTING WORDS WES MORGAN for Kelly to arrive. "In the past two years, they were more physical than we were, bigger and tougher than we were, and I thought that was going to be our benchmark. When we sur- vived that, especially the way we did, that's when I thought this team had a chance." Swarbrick had a hunch Kelly had four years after Notre Dame's last na- tional title, the most storied program in college football has a chance to write an exciting new story instead of reciting the same old tired lines from the glory days. "It's hard for me to sit here right Turns out Kelly was right. Twenty- the right blueprint for one of the most unique jobs in the sporting world. And even after back-to-back 8-5 seasons to start his tenure, Kelly was "on the coolest seat in America as opposed to a hot seat," according to his boss. These things take time, but some- times not as much as the rest of us think is necessary. Not when everyone is pulling desperately in the same di- rection. In 2010, Notre Dame extended Kel- after the game and give the historical significance of all these things," Kelly said. "Here's what I know: we set out this season to build our program and get it back into the national discussion when you're talking about national programs. "We're in that discussion." When even some of the staunch- ly's contract two years through the 2016 season. "He knew how to build a program," Swarbrick said of Kelly. "He could explain it; he could articulate every element of it. He could tell me exactly what all those elements were and how he was going to address them. … We had some really talented kids, great leaders, and there wasn't a problem with our approach to the game. "It was the other stuff, and he knew how to build that stuff. He had dem- onstrated it. That was what was com- pelling for me." Prior to fall camp, Kelly and going to be really good this year,'" Swarbrick recalled. Swarbrick talked about the state of the program. "He told me this summer, 'We're you guys wanted to hear during the week, but what's so exciting for us is in this year that we're the first No. 1 in the nation in graduation success rate to be ranked No. 1 in the BCS and to go to the championship game. No one has ever done that before," he said. "… That's al- ways been what the goal was and what we were about." ✦ Assitant Editor Wes Morgan has been with Blue & Gold Illustrated since February 2011. He can be reached at wmorgan@blueandgold.com est supporters of Notre Dame's aca- demic standards began to doubt the school's ability to field a champion- ship-caliber team while maintaining such high educational expectations, the Fighting Irish proved they're able to continue doing things differently than the country's football factories. It's what Swarbrick is and should be most proud of. "We sort of said it probably more than